Swartberg 100 gravel race, the second round of the UCI Gravel World Series in 2023 on Saturday April 29(Image credit: Supplied by Swartberg 100 Gran Fondo)
2023 scenery from Swartberg 100(Image credit: MTBAfrica Events/ Swartberg 100)
Early morning start for 2023 Swartberg 100(Image credit: MTBAfrica Events/ Swartberg 100)
A spectacular paved 23km section of the Meiringspoort road(Image credit: MTBAfrica Events/ Swartberg 100)
Swartberg 100 is a 170km gravel Gran Fondo starting in Prince Albert on the north side of the Swartberg Mountain Nature Reserve(Image credit: spectacular paved 23km section of the Meiringspoort road)
Women's winner Cathryn Colyn (Rocacorba Collective)(Image credit: Swartberg 100 is a 170km gravel Gran Fondo starting in Prince Albert on the north side of the Swartberg Mountain Nature Reserve)
Gustav Basson (Team DMS) and Cathryn Colyn (Rocacorba Collective) have taken out the men’s and women’s victories at the first South African round of the UCI Gravel World Series, the Swartberg 100.
Basson, who raced on the road with Continental team ProTouch the last three seasons, sprinted over the line ahead of Dan Loubser to take the victory in the men’s category with a time of 5:25:40 while Basson’s teammate, Kent Main, crossed less than a minute later to take third. In the women’s category Colyn, who be lining up for the Life Time Grand Prix series this year, had a clear margin as she crossed the line with a time of 5:54:15, beating her nearest rival Theresa Rindler Bachl by around 18 minutes. Anneke Lund, a little more than a minute further back, took third.
“The race got started at the first real climb at 24km,” said Colyn in a post on Instagram after taking her first win of the season and first UCI win. “ I knew I had to make sure that I got into one of the front groups over this climb, going up here, I don’t know if it was the cold or what but boy oh boy it was damn hard. It was the hardest part of the day for me. From there I was able to establish a gap on the other women.
“Keeping fuelled, fighting through the low points and staying in the moment focusing on my own performance. I had a perfect day on the bike. Still quite can’t believe it.”
The race in Prince Albert, in the Western Cape province, included the 1583m high Swartberg pass to contribute to 2900m of elevation gain over the 170km course. The South African was a new addition to the UCI Gravel World Series, which began in 2022 with 10 rounds that culminated in the UCI Gravel World Championships in Italy in October.
The series has expanded to 17 events in 2023, with Swartberg among the seven new additions. It is the second round of racing, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team Gravel Squad) and Carolin Schiff (Canyon-CLLCTV) taking victory at the opening La Indomable race in Spain. This weekend Swartberg marked the first day of racing in a double-header, with the Gravel Fondo Limburg being held in the Netherlands on Sunday.
Results
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Men top 10
Position
Rider
Time
1
Gustav Basson
05:25:40
2
Dan Loubser
5:25:41
3
Kent Main
5:26:30
4
Dusty Day
5:28:23
5
Gert Heyns
5:29:49
6
Jaden Terlouw
5:31:15
7
Erick Heyns
5:31:15
8
Matthew Keyser
5:35:10
9
Alex Pavlov
5:35:48
10
Matthys Beukes
5:36:24
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Women top 10
Position
Rider
Time
1
Catherine Colyn
05:54:15
2
Theresa Rindler Bachl
06:12:17
3
Anneke Lund
06:13:23
4
Courteney Webb
06:22:06
5
Juanita Mackenzie
06:34:44
6
Layla Schwellnus
06:46:06
7
Bianca Silberbauer
06:48:42
8
Lasquéve Raubenheimer
06:53:31
9
Rebecca Van Huyssteen
06:54:18
10
Kerri Anderson
06:54:21
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Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.
